Hindsight is Always 2020
by Cosmos of the sun
Summary: To Lorelei the humans are his children and the number of deaths caused by Van can not be excepted. So to save the dead, and to save themselves, he sends the spirits of Luke and Sync into the past. May the One Who Would Size Glory fall to their blades.


Title: Hindsight is Always 20/20  
Author: Cosmos of the Sun  
Series: Tales of the Abyss (posted under Tales of Symphonia currently)  
Rating: Teen  
Warnings: Nothing in this chapter  
Summary: To Lorelei all the humans of the world are his children and the slaughter that Van is responsible for can't be excepted. So to fix that and to help two of his children heal he sends the spirits of both Luke and Sync into the past. May the One Who Would Seize Glory fall to their blades.

Author's Note: I seem to be very bad at starting stories and never finishing them. I have every intention of finishing this and I hope that I will be able to. Right now my life is a little frantic because I'm taking Honors and AP classes at school but I'm going to make every effort to get this done. The more Tales of the Abyss fics that are posted on the sooner ToA will get its own section! Well I hope that you enjoy the first chapter and if you have the time please leave a review telling me what you think. If I don't know the more likely this fic will never be finished. Anyway I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 1:

The Answer is Yes

Luke's head hurt.

He got headaches sometimes, those debilitating ones where a voice echoed in his head, but not ones that stayed with him for long periods of time and made it hard to focus on his surroundings.

He was tired to and, like the headache, it was different from what he was used to. Unlike physical tiredness which he had felt many times before, while training with Master Van, this was a mental tiredness as well. It made things that he didn't want to think about come to the forefront of his mind and taunt him.

_Like trying, and failing to earn praise from his father, how they would use him as a weapon, and how they were trying to take away his free will! _

He shook his head, making his hair dance in the wind, and grimaced with pain as the ache got worse with the stimulated blood follow. Luke wouldn't mind to not hear his pulse echoing in his skull, thank you very much!

Luke knew that they were pretty close to Akzeriuth, because they had crossed Deo Pass four days ago, but he wished that it were closer so that he could sleep in a real bed again. How could they expect him to sleep on the ground and still be in top shape in the morning? It wasn't possible.

_But you could grow to like it,_ his mind whispered, _you could come to like traveling and dread the day that you would have to settle down because of old age._

_Not possible, _he sneered at the voice in his head_, I can't wait till I get rid of the Miasma and then I can live comfortably in my own home with Master Van and not worry about anything. _

There was no response to that, just the sensation that he had missed something and the voices in his head were laughing at him. Luke ignored it and focused one the one thing he wanted above all else at this point and time, a break.

If the others didn't call for a stop soon he was going to, no matter who complained. He was the one in charge and they would have to except that.

* * *

Sync drew his fist back and felt a hint of satisfaction as the Oracle Knight's helmet made a jarring sound when it hit the wall of the Tartarus's control room. If the man had any sense he should have known that he didn't want to be bothered by his body language. Next time the man would know better or he just might go thorough the window.

Sync put his hand under the mask he wore and pinched the bridge of his nose willing his headache to vanish. Instead of working, as it normally did, it seemed to make it worse as the pressure in his head increased.

But not only did Sync's head ache the rest of his body hurt. It felt like he had been training with the rest of the God-Generals for several hours, which was horribly wrong. The only one he had even _seen _in the last 36 hours was Asch and that was only because they had pasted each other by in the hallway.

_This similar to how you were on the day they tossed you into Mt. Zaleho. In pain and apprehensive. Maybe Van sees you as worthless to? _

_I have a purpose and a reason now! And beside, I felt horrible then because it was the day they tested all the replicas, to see who would be the new Ion. Anyone would feel pain if they were tortured to see how many seventh fonons they could produce trying to stay alive!_

But all there was in response was mocking laughter.

With a silent snarl he did an about face in the hallway he was walking down and headed back toward his room. He his head throbbed too much to deal with Legretta, and her prying, right now. It wouldn't hurt to wait till morning to tell her his actions regarding Guy and the Curse slot. Right now he just wanted a glass of water and his bed.

* * *

It was a beautiful night on the plains outside of Akzeriuth. There wasn't even a hint of clouds in the sky and the stars sparkled like diamonds. But dispute all this beauty it was arguably the worst night that Luke had tried to sleep through.

Ever

In the past Luke had nights where he couldn't sleep because he wasn't tired, or because he had been sleeping all day do to illness. Nights where fears of monsters under the bed and the idea that he would never be able to meet his parent's expectations had sent him running to Guy in the middle of the night.

Guy had always been the person that he had run to for as long as he could remember. Guy was his best friend/brother/father figure and it always seemed as if he knew the best thing to say no matter the occasion.

But right now running to Guy, not that he would considering his age and the fact that he had a image to maintain, wouldn't help.

Tonight he slept, though not very soundly, and dreamt of places and people that he had never seen. He saw both his past and what looked like his future is snippets and shades, there in one moment and gone in the next.

After the pictures and the visions there seemed to be a voice asking him a question. Or maybe the question was not for him as someone else answered it. And even though he couldn't hear the question very well it was the response that reverberated through his head.

_Yes_

And suddenly Luke's entire world came crashing down as a new personality and memories were made known to him and were absorbed.

Luke knew what the journey would bring to himself and to his friends.

He knew every thing.

* * *

Sync shuddered under his blanket and tossed it over the side of the bed as the heat grew too much for him. He was dreaming of that volcano again. The physical pain, from the fires, and the emotional pain, for the thought of being worthless enough to kill, that the mountain had brought him was something that had haunted him for the three years of his life.

But tonight it wasn't just the mountain he was dreaming of, even if it played a big role. No it was the images that swirled in the lava that caught his attention. Battles were fought before his eyes and emotional speeches were given.

But, while ha wasn't totally focused on it, whispers played along the edges of his awareness. He could tell that it was a discussion about him to a degree, but that didn't matter to him. Sync was nothing more then a piece of trash in his mind and he didn't feel the need to concern himself with it.

Until a final question was asked and a single world drowned out everything else.

_Yes_

The lava was trashing about in the pools in his dream and, as he sped toward wakefulness, new thoughts and memories were coming to him. And as he awoke, throwing himself into a sitting position on the bed, Sync realized what that voice/he agreed to.

He couldn't say that he was too happy about it.

* * *

Lorelei watched them as the realized what they had done to themselves. He knew that the other avatars for the rest of the Fonons would protest his choices. They would say that Luke doubted and hated himself too much to do a good job and that Sync didn't care enough be a good choice. But Lorelei knew deep in his being that they are what the world needed.

And so Lorelei prayed that they would be able to save his children, before the same mistakes were made again.


End file.
